Good summary, I got the Universal Monsters edition of Horrified for my birthday last year and it’s so much fun. The highlight so far being a really badly timed drawing of the Thief card for the Invisible Man which allowed him to destroy all the items at one of the locations we needed to collect evidence from, this lead to us having to wait almost to the very end of the game before another item dropped at that location and not being able to defeat him until the very last turn of the game, things got really tense. I know for a fact that I will be getting the American Monsters edition for my birthday this year and I’m really looking forward to it, the new creature mechanics sound fantastic and those minis look good, can’t wait to paint them.
Things can get quite tense sometimes. I have my fair share of narrow wins and near misses. While I don't think American Monsters is quite as good, it's definitely still worth getting, and I appreciate having another six different monsters to play against. Would love to see the series continue.
Nice! I remember the ranking video, and was glad to not only see it on the list, but see it so high up. It quickly became one of my favorites, and was one of the games I painted the miniatures for right away. Speaking of which, while the minis for this version look great, I really lile that banshee. She definitely looks like she could integrate with other TTRPGs, especially some 5E stuff. Nothing better than getting miniatures for a game and saying, "Oooh. I could use this for such and such."
Horrified is a bit of a masterpiece. They put so much love into it. This version is excellent too, and it's refreshing to have some different monsters that pose new threats, but it's not in the same league. The miniatures are really nice, though. They did a good job on them.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yeah Horrified is hard to top in that regard. Like you said, the amount of love they put into it really shows. They really made it feel like you were neckdeep in some classic monster movie, trying to defeat some legendary monster. I mean just how involving they made the system and mechanics for defeating said monsters was just so next level. I think the Mummy, and Frankenstein's Monster/The Bride are my favorite monsters to square off against.
The mummy and the Frankies are great fun. I always enjoy pushing the boat along the lagoon for the creature too. But I do find it hard not to include the wolf man in every game.
As a citizen of the United States of America, I can reassure any British viewers, the monsters depicted in this board game are completely real and terrify me on a daily basis! 😳
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring oh, speaking of Horror movies, have you ever seen Pumpkin Head starring Lance Hendrickson? That movie still creeps me out to this day...
I have indeed, and the sequels, and I have a shirt with a cute little pixelated Pumpkinhead on it. I couldn't count how many horror movies I watch per week. They are running almost non-stop while I am doing stuff, and when I do ever get around to putting my feet up, I almost always end up watching a horror film.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I found the sequels rather dissapointing... 😅 But Andrew Robinson was rather entertaining as the Sheriff... Total Jaws ripoff!! 😂
I guess that’s not surprising as they were cheapo clag, really, never destined for a cinema screen. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. I don’t remember Andrew Robinson being the sheriff. He was amazing in Hellraiser. I loved how he switched from playing Larry to Frank.
I love both of these games and their respective themes (I teach film and folklore classes at a high school in the US). As you point out, one of the things that makes the original so appealing and clever are the nods/easter eggs to the past and the IPs. Folklore doesn't have those kinds of specific elements, as it is supposed to appeal the "everyman" or, at least, most folks in a particular culture. So, nailing down a specific nod for cryptids is difficult. The Patterson-Gimlin photo is about as close as it gets in this game. Some people complain about the collection of monsters, but I feel the designers did a great job collecting cryptids from various regions in the states. Unless you're from the states or familiar with its regional folklore, it may be difficult to notice the care the designers took to represent a relatively fair smattering across the U.S. Like you, I prefer the original, but I think American Monsters is more than a valiant effort and certainly has its place. My group tends to play it in the summer and spring months while the original HAS to be played in the autumn, especially near Halloween. Thank you for your review! Can't wait for your thoughts on the next Heroquest expansion!
I think both versions of Horrified are excellent, and horror fans will get a kick out of both. But I just think the original is a little tighter in its presentation, styling, and integration of theming into the mechanisms. I wouldn't be without either of them, though. I like all of the monsters, but I do think the banshee feels a little out of place. I would rather have seen another "beast" and maybe save the banshee for a third iteration focusing more on ghost stories. I would like a B movie version as well.
I agree! A Beasts of the British Isles or a Greek Mythological creatures version would be great too. On a separate note, I created a sheet with the suggestions you gave about Heroquest furniture interactions and posted it on BGG. I hope that's okay, and I was sure to give you credit.
@@bradgibbons1062 A British Isles theme is another one I’ve said could be really interesting. Maybe they think it wouldn’t be appealing enough in other countries though. It’s a franchise that has so much scope. I hope they do more with it. And that’s fine to share any ideas around that I mention in videos. It’s all supposed to go out into the world to be helpful or to spark ideas for other people.
I think Horrified is just an all-round slicker production, but I'm really happy to have both in my collection. It took a while for American Monsters to make it to the UK, and to begin with I was concerned it would end up being something that was region-locked or difficult to get.
Great video! I always fancied this game to play with my family, but whenever I look at it, it looks more complicated/fiddly than I thought it would be? Is it hard remembering what all the monsters do?
This is an incredibly easy, accessible game. Each monster has a monster mat for tracking anything special about them, and when a monster is going to activate you just follow the steps on the monster card. In most cases, when a monster activates, it moves to the closest character (picking an investigator if possible) and will then roll dice, inflicting wounds on hits. Only if you roll the power symbol do you need to refer to the monster mat to see what special things they do. Bigfoot is the only real exception to this. Each monster has a a special Advance and Defeat action that investigators can take. Again, that's all on the monster mats. Monster are graded on complexity - chupacabra and banshee are easy, mothman and ozark howler are medium, and bigfoot and jersey devil are complex. So when you first play, you can pick the simpler monsters. This is a good way to learn the ropes and play with younger children.
I have both and American Monsters saw the game table once. I didn't realize how much the theme made a difference and other than the new monster mechanics, there's nothing to draw me to American Monsters over Universal Monsters. There's also the multiple typos that somehow made it through to the final version and the fact that Prospero Hall designed the original but not the follow-ups in the series.
The right "fit" for the theme will certainly enhance your enjoyment. I prefer the Universal theme, but Horrified is in my top 3 games of all time, so I appreciate having a new board and new monsters to fight and I will definitely be getting the Greek monsters set.
I just bought American Monsters and Greek Monsters. In American Monsters there seem to be some typos in the monster descriptions that left me a little confused, particularly with Bigfoot. For instance, I am not sure whether Bigfoot will end his movement in a location with a Citizen. The rules state, "Once the attack step is done Bigfoot moves like an ordinary Monster, except that he will not stop if if he encounters an Investigator or Citizen. Bigfoot will not end his movement in a location with an Investigator." This is the only occurrence of "Citizen" in the special rules for Bigfoot and I suspect it may be a misprint.
No, this is correct. Bigfoot has a special movement. He is inquisitive of people but doesn't want to stay on spaces with people if he can help it. Normally when a monster moves into a space with a citizen or investigator they stop (if they start in a space with them they don't move at all), but Bigfoot won't stop if he has movement left. Additionally, if he finishes moving in a space with an investigator he gains additional movement to flee. The intent is he is always close to investigators, but never engages them.
As much as I like American Monsters, I think Universal is much better. I hope you enjoy it. Also, if you haven't heard about it, they are about to release Greek Monsters. I covered it only recently on the channel, and that one looks really good too.
Great review. I have both, but have not had a chance to play American Monsters. Horrified UM is so good, its hard to not just put it on the table. Are you going to be getting the Horrified: Greek Myth Monsters?
I only learned about the Greek myths edition recently and I will actually be talking about it on the channel. When I was previously talked about other iterations of the game I would like to see, Greek myths was on my list, along with British folklore and B movies, so I will definitely be getting it.
Apparently, quite a fewer people find that the rules for this iteration of Horrified are plagued with numerous ambiguities and misprints. Do you agree with their assessment?
Some people claimed there was a very minor chance of the Jersey Devil being unsolvable, but there is a line in the rules that rectifies this (it may have been added in a later reprint, I'm not sure). Most people struggle with Bigfoot. It's not always obvious how you should move him, but if you pick a method and apply it consistently I don't think it really matters. If you have specific concerns let me know what they are and I will let you know what I think.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Thanks for the response. We enjoy the original Horrified as well as the Greek Monsters edition, but we've been reluctant to purchase American Monsters due to the many negative reviews we've come across.
@@thepardoner2059 Personally I think Greek Monsters has more rules that aren’t particularly clear than American Monsters, but I love all three versions.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yes. We had to make quite a few corrections to the Greek Monsters edition and didn't want to subject ourselves to having to do the same for American Monsters.
I purchased this the day it was released at retail. I’ve played Jersey Devil once and do think it can’t be beat. I’d be interested to hear what the line added later is. I love this game and the cryptid theme is the most fun to me of all 3 and I don’t mind some of the difficulties/misprints (I think my version says police station instead of sheriffs station in certain parts, for example). I wish they’d issue an expansion deck with additional cryptid minis for this. Would be so cool.
I have played the original Horrified and loved it immediately! I need to get a copy but it is a bit harder to find it seems locally in U.S. I do own American Monsters version. I agree 100% with your assessment on it. Thanks for the review.
Please tell me you watched the movie "Monster Squad". Horrified is THAT movie, and why I love playing it. the new US monsters is not a full let down, but yes the QC group might've been on vacation a lot, lets just say that! The Wolfman DOES have nards!!!
I am a bit of a horror nerd, and I have indeed watched Monster Squad. I still really enjoy American Monsters, but Universal Monsters set a high bar. I recently got Greek Monsters too, which also has a few fussy areas that really should have been caught before going to retail.
I'm happy to have brought it to your attention. There is a review and playthrough of the Universal Monsters version of the game on the channel already that you might want to check out to see if the game is something you would be interested in picking up.
There is a deck of cards that will spawn items and move monsters. Each card also has some special text. Sometimes that text will say to place a townsperson, and sometimes it will tell you to do something with a particular type of monster (if that monster is in play), like placing the eye token
Weird that they kill townspeople. I must have missed that in most of these legends. Pretty easy pass for me, even though I've think about it every time I see it in a store. I don't have any of these prospero games at all. Maybe I don't like boardgames?
I guess you can rationalise it in other ways. The townsperson gets scared and flees town, they trip and fall off a cliff while running away, they go insane from seeing the monster, all their valuables get destroyed. Anything like that would justify the "terror" level of the town increasing. The Horrified games are really nice, laid back games. They are also really good for solo play. I know we both play a lot of games solo even when they aren't designed for it, but the Horrified system is so slick and easy to run through, it's a really good one to drop on the table on a midweek night, so I end up playing them a lot that way. It's also one I can play easily with my daughter. Although at the moment she is more interested in stomping me in Godzilla: Tokyo Clash.
Maybe it's just me but I don't find that monster roster particularly interesting or scary, at least if compared with other creatures they could have choosen, like the skinwalker for example.
I think, for the most part they are excellent choices, and the jersey devil, bigfoot, chupacrabra, and mothman are all well-known legends that also feel distinct from anything from the original Horrified game. The only one that I think they could have replaced is the banshee, because it doesn't feel in line with the rest. A third box, focusing on ghosts, would be good. Maybe even a box dealing with legends from the UK.
Certainly. They may not want to, as it moves the game away from the family-friendly area it sits in at the moment, but it would work, and it would be cool. There are lots of themes I would be interested in seeing, including famous movie monsters, B-movie monsters, and legends of Great Britain. And of course, I think a Scooby Doo version would be amazing.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring hmmm... hadn't thought about Scooby-Doo... Part of me agrees with about the non- family friendly nature of the slashers but considering how many years heavily edited versions of those movies have run on afternoon basic cable they've all sort of transcended their films and become part of modern mythology... though I would think it could be a nightmare trying to get all of those studios to license for a single game at a reasonable price.
Good summary, I got the Universal Monsters edition of Horrified for my birthday last year and it’s so much fun. The highlight so far being a really badly timed drawing of the Thief card for the Invisible Man which allowed him to destroy all the items at one of the locations we needed to collect evidence from, this lead to us having to wait almost to the very end of the game before another item dropped at that location and not being able to defeat him until the very last turn of the game, things got really tense. I know for a fact that I will be getting the American Monsters edition for my birthday this year and I’m really looking forward to it, the new creature mechanics sound fantastic and those minis look good, can’t wait to paint them.
Things can get quite tense sometimes. I have my fair share of narrow wins and near misses. While I don't think American Monsters is quite as good, it's definitely still worth getting, and I appreciate having another six different monsters to play against. Would love to see the series continue.
Nice! I remember the ranking video, and was glad to not only see it on the list, but see it so high up. It quickly became one of my favorites, and was one of the games I painted the miniatures for right away. Speaking of which, while the minis for this version look great, I really lile that banshee. She definitely looks like she could integrate with other TTRPGs, especially some 5E stuff. Nothing better than getting miniatures for a game and saying, "Oooh. I could use this for such and such."
Horrified is a bit of a masterpiece. They put so much love into it. This version is excellent too, and it's refreshing to have some different monsters that pose new threats, but it's not in the same league. The miniatures are really nice, though. They did a good job on them.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yeah Horrified is hard to top in that regard. Like you said, the amount of love they put into it really shows. They really made it feel like you were neckdeep in some classic monster movie, trying to defeat some legendary monster. I mean just how involving they made the system and mechanics for defeating said monsters was just so next level. I think the Mummy, and Frankenstein's Monster/The Bride are my favorite monsters to square off against.
The mummy and the Frankies are great fun. I always enjoy pushing the boat along the lagoon for the creature too. But I do find it hard not to include the wolf man in every game.
As a citizen of the United States of America, I can reassure any British viewers, the monsters depicted in this board game are completely real and terrify me on a daily basis! 😳
What if the real monsters were the friends we made along the way?
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring oh, speaking of Horror movies, have you ever seen Pumpkin Head starring Lance Hendrickson?
That movie still creeps me out to this day...
I have indeed, and the sequels, and I have a shirt with a cute little pixelated Pumpkinhead on it. I couldn't count how many horror movies I watch per week. They are running almost non-stop while I am doing stuff, and when I do ever get around to putting my feet up, I almost always end up watching a horror film.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I found the sequels rather dissapointing... 😅 But Andrew Robinson was rather entertaining as the Sheriff... Total Jaws ripoff!! 😂
I guess that’s not surprising as they were cheapo clag, really, never destined for a cinema screen. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. I don’t remember Andrew Robinson being the sheriff. He was amazing in Hellraiser. I loved how he switched from playing Larry to Frank.
I love both of these games and their respective themes (I teach film and folklore classes at a high school in the US). As you point out, one of the things that makes the original so appealing and clever are the nods/easter eggs to the past and the IPs. Folklore doesn't have those kinds of specific elements, as it is supposed to appeal the "everyman" or, at least, most folks in a particular culture. So, nailing down a specific nod for cryptids is difficult. The Patterson-Gimlin photo is about as close as it gets in this game. Some people complain about the collection of monsters, but I feel the designers did a great job collecting cryptids from various regions in the states. Unless you're from the states or familiar with its regional folklore, it may be difficult to notice the care the designers took to represent a relatively fair smattering across the U.S. Like you, I prefer the original, but I think American Monsters is more than a valiant effort and certainly has its place. My group tends to play it in the summer and spring months while the original HAS to be played in the autumn, especially near Halloween. Thank you for your review! Can't wait for your thoughts on the next Heroquest expansion!
I think both versions of Horrified are excellent, and horror fans will get a kick out of both. But I just think the original is a little tighter in its presentation, styling, and integration of theming into the mechanisms. I wouldn't be without either of them, though.
I like all of the monsters, but I do think the banshee feels a little out of place. I would rather have seen another "beast" and maybe save the banshee for a third iteration focusing more on ghost stories. I would like a B movie version as well.
I agree! A Beasts of the British Isles or a Greek Mythological creatures version would be great too.
On a separate note, I created a sheet with the suggestions you gave about Heroquest furniture interactions and posted it on BGG. I hope that's okay, and I was sure to give you credit.
@@bradgibbons1062 A British Isles theme is another one I’ve said could be really interesting. Maybe they think it wouldn’t be appealing enough in other countries though. It’s a franchise that has so much scope. I hope they do more with it.
And that’s fine to share any ideas around that I mention in videos. It’s all supposed to go out into the world to be helpful or to spark ideas for other people.
Delighted ye finally did a video on this game...i love both Horrified versions but yes Universal Monsters is the better IP.
thanks again for the video
I think Horrified is just an all-round slicker production, but I'm really happy to have both in my collection. It took a while for American Monsters to make it to the UK, and to begin with I was concerned it would end up being something that was region-locked or difficult to get.
Great video!
I always fancied this game to play with my family, but whenever I look at it, it looks more complicated/fiddly than I thought it would be? Is it hard remembering what all the monsters do?
This is an incredibly easy, accessible game. Each monster has a monster mat for tracking anything special about them, and when a monster is going to activate you just follow the steps on the monster card. In most cases, when a monster activates, it moves to the closest character (picking an investigator if possible) and will then roll dice, inflicting wounds on hits. Only if you roll the power symbol do you need to refer to the monster mat to see what special things they do. Bigfoot is the only real exception to this.
Each monster has a a special Advance and Defeat action that investigators can take. Again, that's all on the monster mats.
Monster are graded on complexity - chupacabra and banshee are easy, mothman and ozark howler are medium, and bigfoot and jersey devil are complex. So when you first play, you can pick the simpler monsters. This is a good way to learn the ropes and play with younger children.
I have both and American Monsters saw the game table once. I didn't realize how much the theme made a difference and other than the new monster mechanics, there's nothing to draw me to American Monsters over Universal Monsters. There's also the multiple typos that somehow made it through to the final version and the fact that Prospero Hall designed the original but not the follow-ups in the series.
The right "fit" for the theme will certainly enhance your enjoyment. I prefer the Universal theme, but Horrified is in my top 3 games of all time, so I appreciate having a new board and new monsters to fight and I will definitely be getting the Greek monsters set.
I just bought American Monsters and Greek Monsters. In American Monsters there seem to be some typos in the monster descriptions that left me a little confused, particularly with Bigfoot. For instance, I am not sure whether Bigfoot will end his movement in a location with a Citizen. The rules state, "Once the attack step is done Bigfoot moves like an ordinary Monster, except that he will not stop if if he encounters an Investigator or Citizen. Bigfoot will not end his movement in a location with an Investigator." This is the only occurrence of "Citizen" in the special rules for Bigfoot and I suspect it may be a misprint.
No, this is correct. Bigfoot has a special movement. He is inquisitive of people but doesn't want to stay on spaces with people if he can help it. Normally when a monster moves into a space with a citizen or investigator they stop (if they start in a space with them they don't move at all), but Bigfoot won't stop if he has movement left. Additionally, if he finishes moving in a space with an investigator he gains additional movement to flee. The intent is he is always close to investigators, but never engages them.
American monsters is my first Horrified game, and I have plans to get Universal monsters!
As much as I like American Monsters, I think Universal is much better. I hope you enjoy it. Also, if you haven't heard about it, they are about to release Greek Monsters. I covered it only recently on the channel, and that one looks really good too.
I always consider this the unofficial "X-Files" version of Horrified. It's a great mindset for me when playing.
Thanks ABNB.
Thanks for watching.
Great review. I have both, but have not had a chance to play American Monsters. Horrified UM is so good, its hard to not just put it on the table. Are you going to be getting the Horrified: Greek Myth Monsters?
I only learned about the Greek myths edition recently and I will actually be talking about it on the channel. When I was previously talked about other iterations of the game I would like to see, Greek myths was on my list, along with British folklore and B movies, so I will definitely be getting it.
British lore would be great to see.
Apparently, quite a fewer people find that the rules for this iteration of Horrified are plagued with numerous ambiguities and misprints. Do you agree with their assessment?
Some people claimed there was a very minor chance of the Jersey Devil being unsolvable, but there is a line in the rules that rectifies this (it may have been added in a later reprint, I'm not sure). Most people struggle with Bigfoot. It's not always obvious how you should move him, but if you pick a method and apply it consistently I don't think it really matters.
If you have specific concerns let me know what they are and I will let you know what I think.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Thanks for the response. We enjoy the original Horrified as well as the Greek Monsters edition, but we've been reluctant to purchase American Monsters due to the many negative reviews we've come across.
@@thepardoner2059 Personally I think Greek Monsters has more rules that aren’t particularly clear than American Monsters, but I love all three versions.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yes. We had to make quite a few corrections to the Greek Monsters edition and didn't want to subject ourselves to having to do the same for American Monsters.
I purchased this the day it was released at retail. I’ve played Jersey Devil once and do think it can’t be beat. I’d be interested to hear what the line added later is.
I love this game and the cryptid theme is the most fun to me of all 3 and I don’t mind some of the difficulties/misprints (I think my version says police station instead of sheriffs station in certain parts, for example).
I wish they’d issue an expansion deck with additional cryptid minis for this. Would be so cool.
I have played the original Horrified and loved it immediately! I need to get a copy but it is a bit harder to find it seems locally in U.S. I do own American Monsters version. I agree 100% with your assessment on it. Thanks for the review.
Thanks for watching. I hope you manage to find a copy.
Please tell me you watched the movie "Monster Squad". Horrified is THAT movie, and why I love playing it. the new US monsters is not a full let down, but yes the QC group might've been on vacation a lot, lets just say that!
The Wolfman DOES have nards!!!
I am a bit of a horror nerd, and I have indeed watched Monster Squad. I still really enjoy American Monsters, but Universal Monsters set a high bar. I recently got Greek Monsters too, which also has a few fussy areas that really should have been caught before going to retail.
Never heard of the game but both versions looks awesome.
I'm happy to have brought it to your attention. There is a review and playthrough of the Universal Monsters version of the game on the channel already that you might want to check out to see if the game is something you would be interested in picking up.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I'll be sure to check it out, thank you
How does the eye of moth man get placed down?
There is a deck of cards that will spawn items and move monsters. Each card also has some special text. Sometimes that text will say to place a townsperson, and sometimes it will tell you to do something with a particular type of monster (if that monster is in play), like placing the eye token
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring ooohhhh ty
Weird that they kill townspeople. I must have missed that in most of these legends.
Pretty easy pass for me, even though I've think about it every time I see it in a store. I don't have any of these prospero games at all. Maybe I don't like boardgames?
I guess you can rationalise it in other ways. The townsperson gets scared and flees town, they trip and fall off a cliff while running away, they go insane from seeing the monster, all their valuables get destroyed. Anything like that would justify the "terror" level of the town increasing.
The Horrified games are really nice, laid back games. They are also really good for solo play. I know we both play a lot of games solo even when they aren't designed for it, but the Horrified system is so slick and easy to run through, it's a really good one to drop on the table on a midweek night, so I end up playing them a lot that way. It's also one I can play easily with my daughter. Although at the moment she is more interested in stomping me in Godzilla: Tokyo Clash.
Maybe it's just me but I don't find that monster roster particularly interesting or scary, at least if compared with other creatures they could have choosen, like the skinwalker for example.
I think, for the most part they are excellent choices, and the jersey devil, bigfoot, chupacrabra, and mothman are all well-known legends that also feel distinct from anything from the original Horrified game. The only one that I think they could have replaced is the banshee, because it doesn't feel in line with the rest. A third box, focusing on ghosts, would be good. Maybe even a box dealing with legends from the UK.
Hear me out…
Horrified: Serial Killers!
Like movie ones not real ones😂
I need to check out some of the small box games based on movie killers - Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Mothman: the sexiest cryptid 😍
But Bigfoot knows how to work the camera.
Do you think that Horrified could be re-skinned with modern movie monsters like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger?
Certainly. They may not want to, as it moves the game away from the family-friendly area it sits in at the moment, but it would work, and it would be cool. There are lots of themes I would be interested in seeing, including famous movie monsters, B-movie monsters, and legends of Great Britain. And of course, I think a Scooby Doo version would be amazing.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring hmmm... hadn't thought about Scooby-Doo... Part of me agrees with about the non- family friendly nature of the slashers but considering how many years heavily edited versions of those movies have run on afternoon basic cable they've all sort of transcended their films and become part of modern mythology... though I would think it could be a nightmare trying to get all of those studios to license for a single game at a reasonable price.
Ooooh I get to be first!
Thanks for stopping by.
america is a pretty scary place
Three monsters in just one small town...